Disclaimer: …I'm running out of creative ways to say I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, so this time around I'll just flat-out say it: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. *sniff* So there.

A/N: WHAT DO WE WANT?

FLUFF!

WHEN DO WE WANT IT?

TEN MINUTES AGO!
Well, that's one balls of a deadline, but I'll do my best!

Bon à lire!

-Slay

A Day of Mercy

Chapter 16

Good Somethings

-o-o-o-

It was on that Tuesday in June, a little after one 'o' clock, while leaning over the low guard wall on the roof of Fencer's and watching the "Sun Ray Parade" traipse elatedly below, when Riku decided that "awkward" was not nearly strong enough a word to describe the turn this day had taken. He wasn't sure his vocabulary extended far enough to describe it at all. It was…It was just so…ugh. He didn't even know what to say about the dressing room…incident. All he could do was stand quietly and sneak the occasional, surreptitious glance at Sora, who was—for once—equally speechless.

At least the sun wasn't bothering him.

The street beneath them was teeming with the same sweaty flocks of people that had been bustling to and fro all day, lining the road as bright, gaudy floats and troops of performers rolled through the thoroughfare, a great cloud of streamers and confetti and cool, watery mist dancing down the buildings, showering the crowds. Music billowed from live bands and massive speakers, thundering back and forth from storefront to storefront, from porch to porch, nearly drowning out the enthusiastic din of the onlookers in the street. After a few more facetious comments about the dressing room thing, Mr. Jenkins had offered to let them watch the parade from his store's roof, which was turning out to be a nice blessing, because Riku had had about as much raucous crowding as he could handle for the week.

There was a loud, thick cracking noise—Sora had flexed his back and proceeded to sigh like all of the pain had finally vanished. "Ahhh…Well," he drummed his hands on the guard wall for a pause. "I guess we're really good friends now, huh?"

Riku tried to laugh, but it just came out as a strained little squeaking noise in the back of his mouth.

"I feel like we should talk about this."

Squeak.

"'Cause I don't want things to stay this weird, y'know? And I'm sure you don't, either."

"Mm."

"Riku?"

"Mm?"

"Look at me."

Riku inclined his head just slightly to the side and strained to watch Sora from his peripheral. He saw the brunette shake his head. "No," he chastised, "not in my general direction. Look at me, Riku." Sora's hand came around to hold the side of Riku's face and forced their eyes to lock.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

Riku blanched. His blood ran cold all over again.

What was he even supposed to say to that? What answer could he possibly give? He hadn't thought about doing it. It hadn't been a conscious decision. It had just happened; but how was he supposed to explain that without sounding like an idiot? Or a creep? Or a crazy person? Or all of the above? A creepy, crazy idiot?

"I…I don't know…"

"You don't know?"

"No." He wrenched away from Sora's hand and leaned miserably on the wall, that stupid swarm of heat rising under his skin. "No," he repeated quietly. "I don't. I mean…" He huffed a sigh and glared dejectedly down at the parade. "I'm sorry."

He couldn't see the expression on Sora's face, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to. There was a terrifyingly long pause before a hand fell on his shoulder.

"I don't want you to be sorry, Riku," Sora said gently. "I just want to know what's going on in your head. It's not like you say a whole lot."

"Well…" Riku managed to crane his head around and slip Sora a small, vulnerable look. "No one's ever really cared what I had to say before," he admitted, drawing his attention back down to the parade. "I uh…I've never been very good at making friends…"

"Ri…" Sora stepped behind him and slid his arms around Riku's chest, burrowing his chin into the slouching boy's shoulder, giving him an affectionate squeeze. "You've really been through something, huh?"

Pfft.

"I guess you could say that…" Riku stayed put. The parade was tapering out below; the last few clusters of performers were being swallowed up by the crowds as they shifted down the street, filtering away to the festivities down the road. He felt one of Sora's thumbs stroking his side.

"That's okay, though," he heard Sora murmur. "'Cause you've got lots of friends now. You've got Axel, and Roxas…and Zex and Demyx…They're your friends. And you may not know 'em very well, but Kairi and Naminé, Hayner, Pence and Olette, they're all your friends, too. And you've got…and you've got…"

"I've got you."

He said it in the softest voice, his eyes fixed over the skyline, but Riku meant every little word. He brought his knuckles up to graze Sora's arm and leaned his head against the one resting on his shoulder.

"Yeah!" He could easily picture the brunette smiling, but after a second, a certain thought struck him.

Riku blurted, "The kissing thing is still a little awkward, though."

Sora paused and stepped away, pulling his arms back. When Riku turned to face him, he was standing with a hand touching his chin, eyes set and contemplating.

Dare he ask…? "Sora…?"

Blue eyes caught him thoughtfully. "I was just thinkin'…Maybe it'll be less awkward…if we do it more?"

"...Say what?"

Sora blushed mildly, "Well…Y'know…" and moved closer, "Familiarity breeds contempt, or whatever?" He chuckled to himself. "Well, maybe not contempt, but…"

Riku took a step back, but his friend kept closing in. He had to stop when he felt his legs bump against something like pipes jutting from the guard wall. He wobbled unsteadily when the brunette continued to advance. "S-S-Sora!"

"R-R-Rikuuu," Sora mimicked, his smile taking a mischievous turn. His hands snuck their way along Riku's chest and Sora leaned up, his focus dropping to Riku's lips and his breath rolling like fire between them. "I really like you…" He sighed. "Riku…"

When Sora kissed him, it startled Riku enough that he flailed backward and tripped gracelessly over the pipes, toppling back onto the roof and bringing Sora—and Sora's lips—with him.

They wound up in a heap on the surface of the roof with Sora laughing happily against Riku's mouth; he straddled Riku's hips more comfortably and sat up a bit. "You okay?"

All Riku could do was stare stupidly up at him. "Ah…uh-huh…"

"Awesome!"

And just like that, Sora's lips were back, plucking at Riku's mouth and cheek and jaw, fishing for a reaction that wouldn't come because, well, this sort of thing didn't exactly happen to Riku every day.

"I could use a little input, man," Sora muttered, leaning back and raising a brow. When Riku didn't respond, a shred of uncertainty softened the brunette's features. "Or…don't you want…this?"

Seeming sorry and a little self-conscious, Sora started to move away, but Riku stopped him and pulled him back down against his chest. He shook his head. "No, it's just…I'm not used to this sort of thing. That's all."

Sora relaxed on top of him and started fussing with his hair, smiling lightly. "Well that's why we're here, dummy," he said playfully, bumping their noses together.

Riku breathed a laugh, the corners of his mouth flicking up. "You're something else."

"I am?"

"Oh, yeah."

Sora quirked his head to one side and tugged absently on Riku's hair. "Am I a good something?"

Smile widening, Riku latched his hands at the small of Sora's back and said, "Yes. In fact…you might be the best something that's ever happened to me."

This brought a beaming smile to Sora's face. He smoothed his fingers against Riku's scalp, something naughty and newly familiar creeping into the color of his eyes. "So…" Riku was suddenly very aware of the warmth falling from the closeness of Sora's lips. "Can we maybe…try that kiss one more time?"

"Hold the awkward?"

"Yes, please."

Riku was doing that thing again where he didn't really think about committing his actions—they just sort of happened. One of his hands found its way into Sora's unruly hair, the other locking securely around his waist. Before he could chicken out, he pulled Sora's head down and kissed him, instantly gratified by the small, surprised sound Sora made.

They quickly found their rhythm from before, kissing and twisting and pulling apart and clashing together again, but there was a new dimension to it; an edge. The world was melting wherever their bodies touched—and their bodies touched everywhere—and he could feel Sora lurching against him at the feeling, and it was really hard not to lurch back. His hands wandered and roved from the danger zone at Sora's waist back up to his hair, catching every muscle that jumped and rolled in his back as he moved, rubbing circles over his shoulders and guiding his head so their mouths could meet.

It was a blinding surge of bliss that washed through them, and Riku was too far gone to even wonder where all of this savvy was coming from. The heat was spreading and fogging up his head, and Riku didn't even hear the door to the roof click open.

"I can't leave you two anywhere, can I?"

Oh, COME ON.

They couldn't exactly jump apart, but the boys did flinch and separate—their lips, at least. Sora was still curled on top of Riku in a very inappropriate way, and they were too startled to do anything about it at the moment.

Mr. Jenkins simpered down at them from the doorway with his arms crossed. "I was just makin' sure you boys didn't get locked up here…But I guess that wouldn't have bothered ya too much, eh?"

"Heh…" Sora clamored off of Riku and sat back on his heels, hands fidgeting together awkwardly. Riku sat up and put all of his concentration into not face-palming at his own rotten luck. Seriously, did this guy just wait around until he could drop in on them at the worst possible moment? Dirty old man.

"Parade's over, y'know," Mr. Jenkins informed them, clearly still amused by their red-handed embarrassment. "You two should go visit the fair before it gets much later."

"What a great idea, Mr. J!"

Riku was already on his feet; he extended his hands to help Sora up, and together they slipped past Mr. Pervert—er, Jenkins, and took the staircase down through the building, retreating through the back storage room and hitting Market Street as the crowds were clearing up.

-o-o-o-

"…I think he's doing it on purpose."

There was a muted slurping noise as Sora hastened to finish the ice cream off his spoon so he could ask, "Who?"

"That old Jenkins guy," Riku clarified, hashing up his own ice cream moodily.

Sora smiled at him. "You're just miffed 'cause we keep getting interrupted," he said coyly.

Riku flushed in spite of himself. "Eat your damn ice cream."

While Sora chuckled at him, Riku took a moment to put some words together in his head. He'd been seriously considering taking a drastic step with Sora, and it was starting to feel like a "now or never" situation. If he didn't seize what little confidence he'd acquired over the past few days, he might never have the guts to come clean—to truly make that one, last mistake that could easily define the rest of his life.

"Sora," he croaked, nudging himself in what he really hoped was the right direction.

"Hm?"

"Um…" He could definitely feel it now; the tottering nervousness of facing a fight or flight decision. He muscled past it, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to say, "Could I…show you something later? It's kind of important."

"Of course." Sora's grin faded a bit as he eyed the uneasy look on Riku's face. "Is everything okay? You can show me now, if you want."

"No, it's fine. It can wait until after all…" he gestured a little awkwardly at the festivities filling the Common around them, "this…is over. Really. Don't worry about it."

"…Okay." The brunette's demeanor lightened. "You can show me before we head out to the Charge to Sunrise," he suggested brightly, popping in another spoonful of paopu sherbet, which was quickly becoming the ideal bonding food for them.

"That's tonight?"

"Yep. It's gonna be great! You break up into teams and camp out on this small island on the west side, and in the morning, you get up really early and race to the other side of the island. First team to beat the sunrise wins!"

Riku shoveled in some ice cream and gave Sora an odd look. "What's the point of that?"

"Other than having fun?" A small laugh, then Sora sobered up a little bit, tapping his spoon on the rim of his ice cream cup. "It's all symbolic, I guess," he said more seriously, staring thoughtfully into the crowds as they waded through, neither of them particularly focused on their ice cream anymore. "I mean, the whole point of the festival is to be thankful for the sun, and life, and all that stuff…And the Charge is kinda like a reminder that...no matter how dark the night gets…" he said the last part significantly, his lucid blue eyes passing back over to Riku. "The sun will always rise."

Feeling pressured, Riku averted his own gaze to the forgotten ice cream he was holding. A hand on his chest stopped him walking, then came up to grip his chin. Sora pulled his face down so their eyes met. "Always."

Completely floored, Riku could only stare with his mouth cracked open. He wondered if he'd ever get used to the way Sora saw through him like that. Probably not.

Sora grabbed his arm and pecked him on the cheek, effectively snapping him out of it. "C'mon, let's hit the midway."

-o-o-o-

"Gaaaaaah…I give up!" Sora rolled his head back in devastation and dropped the pellet gun on the table. "These games are rigged."

"Stop your whining," Riku smirked, taking out their moving target for the fifth time in a row. "You already kicked my butt at those dumb videogames the other day."

"Yeah, well, that was more fun." Sora pouted. "Let's do something else."

Riku gave his friend a sideways glance. "Nah, c'mon, you big quitter—one more try."

"Nuh-uh," Sora shook his head childishly. "This isn't fun anymore."

"One more round," Riku insisted, "then we can go do whatever you want." He leaned on the table and added under his breath, "I'll even tell you the secret to winning."

Sora crossed his arms and pouted for a second, then reluctantly looked up from under his lashes. "No bluffing?"

"No bluffing. You'll make the very next shot you take."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

There was one last hesitant pause before Sora tossed some more munny at the vendor and picked his gun back up, staring at it ruefully. Riku left the other gun be and came up behind Sora, reaching around and steadying the smaller boys' grip. Sora relaxed against him, and Riku couldn't help but smile a bit to himself. "Okay," he started as the target began its waving path back and forth across the backdrop. "For one, you have to keep both your eyes open. You need your depth perception to aim well."

"Both eyes open. Got it."

"And it's a moving target, so when you aim, you have to account for timing. Don't aim for where the target is; aim for where the target's gonna be."

Sora nodded resolutely, and Riku had to move his face so his friend's flamboyant hair didn't tickle him. He spoke down into Sora's ear instead. "Next, control your breathing. It keeps you steady. Breathe in while you aim…" They carefully chased the target for a second; Riku felt Sora's chest swell a slow, steady breath.

"Hold it…Focus…and…" He inched Sora's finger onto the trigger, and once the gun's sight was perfectly positioned, he breathed, "Fire."

There was a sharp, metal clang as the gun's pellet bulls-eyed into the target, knocking it clean over and sounding the game's victory ring. The gun fell forgotten on the table when Sora yelped and whirled around, throwing himself onto Riku in a burst of joy.

"Did you see that, Ri? I hit it! I hit it on the first try!"

Riku laughed and hugged the brunette, spinning him around once before setting him down. "I told ya, dummy."

Sora giggled and leaned over the table, sizing up the prizes crowded around the stand. They were all brightly-colored stuffed animals, that Riku personally never would have gone for, but far be it from Sora to pass up anything brightly-colored. He settled on a light-blue, bean-shaped kitten-dog thing and named it Willy, which he subsequently shoved in Riku's face as they were walking away from the game.

"Say hi to Willy, Riku! I think he likes youuu!"

"Sora, get that out of my face before I—agh!"

"Willy wants kisses!"

"Well I don't!"

"The less you want it the more you need it!"

"SORA!"

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that, anyway?" Sora asked, finally pulling the plushy out of Riku's face and cuddling it to his chest.

"My dad used to take me hunting," Riku lied smoothly. It wasn't completely untrue—he really had been hunting. Just not with his dad. …and not for fun.

"Really? I never liked the idea of hunting." Sora drew swirls in the fake fur of the stuffed animal.

"Yeah, well…" Riku had to bite back the bitterness that edged his memories. "Neither did I."

"…At least you got to spend time with your dad, right?"

"Eh."

"Roxas and I never really got to meet our dad. We were really little when he died," Sora admitted mildly.

"Sora…"

A certain silence slid between them—not necessarily uncomfortable, but it wasn't what Riku would call nice and companionable, either. Until then he hadn't even stopped to imagine that Sora might have his own unpleasant keepsakes. It poked a small hole in the self-perpetuating orb of light he'd always pictured Sora's life to be, and somehow, it made him more appealing. More relatable. He suddenly felt a bit more confident about revealing his secret. Just a bit.

Riku wanted to say something, but a familiar pair of arguing voices broke the silence for them.

"…all the shit that's going on right now, and we're in line for carnie food!What the hell is wrong with you—I don't want any fucking ice cream, you idiot! We should be looking for them! We should be—"

"Roxas! Axel! Over here!" Sora tucked the Willy stuffy under his arm and waved across the street, where the old married couple in question was bickering by an ice cream stand. Roxas stopped flailing in Axel's face and turned to see them. Relief poured over him like they had been missing for a month. "Hey!" He returned Sora's wave as he crossed the thoroughfare with Axel in tow. "Cloud said you guys might be here. How's your back?"

"Fine! It doesn't hurt anymore," Sora bubbled, producing Willy again and holding it out for the other two to see. "Look what Riku helped me get!"

Roxas smiled at the colorful stuffy and then at his enthusiastic brother. "Looks like you guys have been having a pretty good day, huh?"

"Yeah!"

"Nice new threads, by the way," Axel contributed, slinging an arm over Roxas' shoulders and passing Riku an appraising grin. "I never thought a creature of the night could wear something so colorful." His tone was light and joking, and the twins readily laughed, but Riku couldn't ignore the sliver of something darker lurking between his words. He gave Axel a hard, suspicious look, and to his surprise, earned a sleazy wink in return.

Oh, really?

If there was any doubt in his mind that Axel knew about him, it was completely gone, now. He knew, and he was dangling the fact that he knew in Riku's face, trying to startle him. Well, it wasn't going to work. Riku had already accepted that there might be something going on around here that was a lot bigger than he was, and Axel had been at the top of his "suspect list" from day one. This really didn't come as a surprise.

Riku crossed his arms casually. "You're awfully chipper for someone who got run through less than twenty-four hours ago," he deadpanned.

Roxas looked startled at the comment, but Axel didn't even flinch. "Yeah…" He drawled. "I guess I'm just a medical miracle."

"Like magic?"

"I guess you could say that."

"You must have some pretty monstrousscars."

Axel shook his head and patted his stomach. "Smooth and sexy as ever. Modern medicine is amazing. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff they can pull off."

"Oh, I think I would."

"Seen things, huh?"

By now both of the twins were thoroughly confused—though Roxas seemed a bit more troubled than anything. Riku was aware of this, but he couldn't let up until he got some sort of reaction out of Axel. Just something small to confirm his suspicions. "Yeah…" He stalled for half a moment, then something turned up from the back of his mind. He'd have to explain it away later, but he had a hunch it would work. "I guess you could say I used to run with a bad crowd," he said a little transparently. Sora gripped his arm, but he focused on Axel, waiting for the slightest hint of consequence.

And there it was; the humor fell from his face and his eyes steeled over. Something very grim had congealed there—some predatory shadow that didn't belong in human eyes. Roxas got a look on his face like Axel's arm had suddenly become some venomous snake around his neck, though it rested dead and still.

"But that's a story for another day, right?"

Axel loosened up a bit. "I'm starting to get the distinct impression we need to have a talk."

"You think?"

"Yeah." Axel pulled his arm back and slid his hands into his pockets, leaning where he stood to reestablish some veil of his usual composure. "We'll have to do something about that. …After the fair is over, of course. I promised Roxy here I'd let him drop me in the dunk tank, and sea salt ice cream…y'know, the usual."

"What? We weren't gonna do either of those things—"

"Plus, you guys were obviously in the middle of something…"

"Not…really…" Sora supplied warily, increasingly interested in the surreptitious exchange. "What's this all about?"

There was a very drawn-out pause between the four of them, and Roxas finally broke it by murmuring, "Maybe we should just tell them…"

"Tell us what?"

Axel looked cornered. "Well…uh…" His face fell, like he was extremely sorry for what he was about to say. "Okay," he sighed. "We…wanted to wait for the right time, but…I guess there's no other option now…" He and Roxas exchanged solemn looks, which lead to Sora and Riku trading their own concerned glances.

"Guys…" Axel said heavily, and Riku got the chill down his spine that usually precluded some very serious information. He could see himself standing on the edge of this conspiracy like a dark chasm, finally being led into its secretive depths. Finally he'd understand why Axel and Roxas (and Demyx and Zexion, apparently) had been acting so oddly around him. Why Kadaj and his crew were going out of their way to cause him trouble. Finally…he'd be in on his own secret.

"Roxas is pregnant."

"…What?"

"WHAT?!" Roxas had gone so red that his blue eyes turned stark against his skin; he gaped up at Axel in deranged horror.

Axel didn't return the eye contact. Instead he made a sort of c'est la vie motion with his hand and sighed again. "Shocking, I know. I'm afraid we haven't been very careful in bed lately, and now we're paying the price—"

"EXCUSE ME?"

"We're eloping to Radiant Garden this weekend so the child will be legitimate—"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

"Now, as you can see, Mommy is getting very upset—hormones, y'know—I'd better get her home, get some chocolate in her, maybe even massage her feet…"

"AXEL!"

"I know, honey. I know." With that, Axel snatched Roxas off his feet and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of really embarrassed potatoes. While Roxas flailed and fumed, spewing an impressive string of barely-intelligible profanities, Axel started carrying him off through the crowd, throwing a wave back at the other two. "Catch you guys later!"

And then they were gone, leaving Sora and Riku to stand with their mouths hanging open like fish for a full minute.

"…That's not completely suspicious…" Riku muttered.

"Or weird," Sora added.

"Yeah…"

"Hey, Riku?"

"Huh?"

They had subconsciously started walking again, and Sora was holding to Willy as a source of comfort. "What did you mean by…bad crowd?"

"Oh…" Riku didn't want to say that he'd flat out lied about something so serious. "I'll explain later," he said. "Y'know, when I show you that thing I have to show you."

"Okay."

A few quiet minutes passed as they flowed through the crowds. Sora's grip had never strayed from Riku's arm, and as they walked, it drifted down until their hands were bound together, swaying idly between them.

"I wonder what Roxas really meant," Sora mused after a while. "When he said they should just tell us."

"Yeah." Riku glanced over his shoulder, half expecting to see Axel and Roxas still bickering somewhere in the background. Naturally, he saw nothing, and turned back around. "Me too."

A/N: Yeah, that's kind of a weird place to leave off, but this puppy was getting long and I was getting tired of writing it.

Stick around for chapter 17 where we hop off Slay's Silly Trolly and get back to the point of the story!

Review for a chakram cookie~

Flame for a chakram to the face!

Until next time, my sweets!

-Slay